Two Americans
A film by Daniel Devivo and Valeria Fernández Friday, November 20th, 2015 6:00 pm at Star Hall on Center Street

Question and Answer session to follow with Valeria Fernández
Valeria is an independent journalist in Phoenix, Arizona. She worked for La Voz newspaper for the last six years covering the immigration beat and she is a guest contributor on Race Wire. Valeria was born and raised in Montevideo, Uruguay, and moved to the United States in 1999.

Enter the heart of an American family living in the shadows of a state that has criminalized their existence. Walk the beat of the nation’s most recognized lawman as he stares down charges of his own.

The parents of 9-year-old Katherine Figueroa are arrested when America’s Toughest Sheriff raids a Phoenix carwash suspected of hiring illegal workers. As young Kathy fights to save her parents from deportation, a community group succeeds in pressuring the County Board to investigate Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s spending priorities. When the sheriff retaliates against his political foes, his actions spark outrage, and a federal investigation.(source: http://www.twoamericans.com/the-film/synopsis/)

The Look of Silence
Drafthouse Films, Participant Media, and Final Cut for Real Presents
A Film by Joshua Oppenheimer
Executive Producers: Werner Herzog & Errol Morris

Saturday, November 21st, 2015 6:00 pm at Star Hall on Center Street

Synopsis

The Look of Silence is Joshua Oppenheimer’s powerful companion piece to the Oscar®-nominated The Act of Killing.

Through Oppenheimer’s footage of perpetrators of the 1965 Indonesian genocide, a family of survivors discovers how their son was murdered, as well as the identities of the killers. The documentary focuses on the youngest son, an optometrist named Adi, who decides to break the suffocating spell of submission and terror by doing something unimaginable in a society where the murderers remain in power: he confronts the men who killed his brother and, while testing their eyesight, asks them to accept responsibility for their actions. This unprecedented film initiates and bears witness to the collapse of fifty years of silence.(source: http://thelookofsilence.com/#synopsis)

NEW YORK CITY: In the fall of 2011, amidst widespread protests against “the 1%”, the sibling filmmaker team of Keil and Aaron Troisi set out with a low budget and an ambitious agenda. “We wanted to make a thriller about corporate exploitation yet keep it purely entertaining, the kind of scary movie that progressives like us would be excited to find one dark and stormy night.” The result is the genrebending supernatural thriller Human Resources.

The film follows a young woman who lands a new job as an executive assistant and discovers that the skyscraper she works in is haunted by victims of a corporation’s cutthroat business practices. Unable to ignore injustice embodied by the disembodied, she sets out to reveal the truth and stop the company before they kill again.

Director and co­writer Keil Troisi described how the film was designed to embrace the conventions of the genre but with an allegorical twist. “Ghost stories are fundamentally about victims of wrongdoing striving for justice. They serve as both revenge fantasies and cautionary tales. That narrative fits naturally in the world of white­collar crime, and we haven’t seen that before.”

Learn more about this unusual social justice "horror film?" by watching the featurette on Vimeo.

After decades of war and an oppressive Taliban regime, four Afghan photojournalists face the realities of building a free press in a country left to stand on its own – reframing Afghanistan for the world and for themselves.

When the Taliban ruled Afghanistan, taking a photo was a crime. After the regime fell from power in 2001, a fledgling free press emerged and a photography revolution was born. Now, as foreign troops and media withdraw, Afghanistan is left to stand on its own, and so are its journalists. Set in a modern Afghanistan bursting with color and character, FRAME BY FRAME follows four Afghan photojournalists as they navigate an emerging and dangerous media landscape – reframing Afghanistan for the world, and for themselves. Through cinema vérité, intimate interviews, powerful photojournalism, and never-before-seen archival footage shot in secret during the Taliban regime, the film connects audiences with four humans in the pursuit of the truth.

The Road to Home (2015), tells the story of Benny Wenda, the Nobel Peace Prize nominated West Papuan independence leader, in his ongoing struggle to free his people from Indonesian colonial rule.

Since his dramatic escape from an Indonesian prison in 2002, where he was held in isolation and tortured as a political prisoner, Benny has been an unceasing crusader on the international scene, campaigning to bring about an end to the suffering of his people at the hands Indonesia’s brutal colonial regime.

Granted political asylum in the UK, Wenda’s freedom of movement was restricted in 2011 when, at the behest of the Indonesian government, Interpol issued a ‘red notice’ putting him at extreme risk of extradition should he travel. The following year the ‘red notice’ was lifted after being deemed “predominantly political in nature”. Wenda then embarked on a world-wide “Freedom Tour” to build support and awareness for the West Papuan Independence Movement. To date Benny has performed and spoken in such diverse places as New Zealand, Australia, Switzerland, Poland, the United Kingdom, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, the United States of America, and many others.

British filmmaker / activist Dominic Brown of Dancing Turtle was given exclusive access, over a two year period, to follow the Nobel Peace Prize nominated freedom fighter and document his inspirational journey to gain independence for his people

A Different Drummer: Celebrating Eccentrics
Directed and Written by
Academy Award winning John Zaritsky

A DIFFERENT DRUMMER: Celebrating Eccentrics
A celebration of those who are truly different from the rest of us and who, according to a ten-year study, are healthier, happier and tend to live longer. The film examines how and why “dancing to the beat of our own drum” is good for us.

Real to Reel Productions and Academy award winning director, John Zaritsky, a bit of an oddball himself, answer that question and many others as they introduces us to a cast of weird and wonderful characters who celebrate being out of sync with society’s norms, and enjoy many freedoms that most of us can only envy. The film takes us on a journey into another way of living and joins, among others:

There is no scarcity of eccentrics among us today, but the film also looks at eccentrics throughout history including Screaming Lord Sutch, Sarah Winchester and Glenn Gould

Daniel Suelo and Cullen Purser, a friend of Daniel's and who did a lot of the work on this film with Daniel will be available to talk.

Moabite, Daniel Suelo, who lives productively and happily without using money, from his home base, a cave in Utah. Daniel will be at the show.

Laura who has a duck that can tell people’s fortunes in Vancouver.

Darla who lives her life in a nonconforming way

Gary who wears monks robes and leads a fan club for a US president who ‘did absolutely nothing’.

Lord Toby Jug who runs for elections in the UK with the objective to add humour and sanity to the process.

Five Senses of Art

A Film by: Hesam Dehghani
Synopsis: The film goes on a picturesque journey across Iran and searches for people who are using their five senses for creating art.
From a small village in the very northern part of Iran to a southern island, the film takes us to seven different cities and shows the unique use of each human sense to creating “things”, that are beyond our basic needs.Official website

This short documentary is divided into five segments: Smell, Taste, Sound, Touch and Sight; and depicts the art blended with culture, religion, beliefs and traditions of Iranian people.

Modern Intruder (Australia 5:20)Starring Elisia Evans and Jackson Tozer
Written and Directed by Nic Barker
A girl walks home at night... but she's not alone...

Marine Drive from Romil Dilip Motta (India 2:37)
The adventure begins when the Marine (girl) who just throws banana peel on road and this leads to chain reaction, saying a message in an adventures way "Give the best of you to the world, the world will give best of its back to you."

Poop on PovertyDirected by Vijay S. Jodha (South Africa 6:29)
A look at the underbelly of one of the most visited, filmed and photographed destinations in the world to highlight an issue that concerns over 2.5 billion people on our planet. Executive produced by Oscar™ Award winners Don Edkins and Nick Fraser, POOP ON POVERTY has won over 25 honours including five best film awards.

Games People Play Written/Directed/Produced by Dawn Westlake, Cinematography/editing/color/vfx by Jon Carr (U.S.A. 7:51)
Never speak a cross word when you can play one. A married couple vows to never speak a cross word again, but playing some is not off the table.

Hoyto Kobitar Jonyo (translation: In Poetic Hues) from Mr. Amartya Bhattacharyya (India 11:08)
The film is a satire on the present day society where creativity is killed every day, either by Economic pressures, or by Political corruptions. Even the common man, suggestively shown as greedy Opportunists, reject creativity since it gives them no tangi

Auntie Maam Has Never Had a Passport (Aka Dao Indie) Auntie Maam is a foot masseuse. She is also a freelance actress in Thai independent films.
One day, one of the films she played is chosen by a film festival in Europe. The film director asks her to join the trip to the festival Auntie Maam has never had a passport. She consults Kaen, her nephew how to get one.
This film is a satire black comedy with social issue. The background is the Thai political movement against the government in the early of 2014.